Schlachtfeld (Battlefield),
1907

Museum Purchase
1996.24.2

Like her first images of mothers and children resisting death, this image of war seems prophetic of the two world wars that Kollwitz was to experience. Here, the tortured power of women seems to survive the suicidal power of men. This image remarkably resembles Russian battlefield photographs of WWII. Does the woman's hand imply the touch of the sculptor exposing identity in darkness? Kollwitz felt both great weariness and great strength. After the death of her son in the first world war, she could say: "Strength is what I need...to do one's work powerfully...the first requisite is strength - only I do not know whether it grows out of striving after goodness and love."